The Things Left Behind
by The-Rose-Tourmaline
Summary: Stepping back into the country she was born in. Mikan Yukihara was ready to rediscover her roots among other things. Too bad she doesn't where to start. Follow her journey as she discovers past acquaintances and mistaken identities.


Chapter One

Gushes of cool uncirculated air swept pass the passengers of Flight 786 as they stepped out into the arrival area of Tokyo's international airport, tired and jet-legged. Among them was a young author returning to Japan after long years aboard. Smiling she made her way slowly to the baggage claim, taking in all the small changes and details that had changed from a decade and a two years ago.

Waiting for the baggage carousel's conveyor belt to chug out her luggage and temporally sated with airport's changes for the moment. The authoress turned her attention to her fellow plane passengers around her, whom were all receiving warm welcomes from families and friends all around. A small frown made its way to her lips, running a hand through her knotted hair the brunette sighed. Here she was, finally returning to Tokyo her birthplace, her heritage, after all those years across an entire continent and she'll be leaving the airport alone. Just like how she boarded the plane all alone back then. Raking another hand harshly through her chestnut hair the authoress shook her head free from the plaguing bitter thoughts and mentally scolded at herself for thinking in such a way.

After all, what else _had_ she expected? A warm reception of hugs and laughter from all of her past acquaintances in Japan? She scoffed at the thought. She had no family left that she knew of, nor did she have any friends that she had kept in contact with from her childhood. She hadn't even say goodbye when she left all those years ago. Not that she had many friends to begin with.

Her parents had passed away before she even knew them, her elderly caretaker; Jii-chan had taken care of her until he too, had left her. Afterwards she was shipped off overseas to an uncle she had never known or heard of and had remained under his care in Europe until she became legally independent of herself. A year ago her uncle, who still remained a bachelor, had an unfortunate heart attack and left her all his fortunes. And here she was now, back in Tokyo lost and lonely, set on a ridiculous notation to rediscover her roots. But she knew deep down that, that wasn't the only reason. She wanted to find _them_.

The baggage carousel finally began to dispense the passenger's baggage, quickly catching sight of her large tan-colored luggage as the eighth one out. The authoress immediately stalked through the crowd of people closing in the carousel. Receiving a hard jab to her ribs and her foot stomped on, her small figure somehow managed to break through the people, only to find that her luggage had disappeared out of her sight.

Groaning in annoyance, the brunette rolled back and forth on the balls of her feet, as waited patiently for her luggage to come around again, slowly her mind drifting off. What was she to do now? It was an impromptu idea of hers to suddenly jump onto a flight here. But, now that she was actually here, the authoress found herself clueless of where to go next. She had not made any preparations before coming here and now she found herself desperately wishing that she had thought this over _before_ jumping onto the first flight. Nevertheless, she heaved her luggage out of the carousal and rolled it out of the crowd.

Settling herself down into a plastic blue chair, the brunette decided to plan her next move. Before she flew out of Europe, she had managed to grab everything she deemed important, as well as; luggage of clothing, her electronic devices, some money and that was it. Turning attention back to her surroundings the brunette was astonished at all the almost, foreign culture around her. All the signs were in Japanese (given that there was English interpretation as well), the person around her speaking Japanese as well and suddenly she felt overwhelmed.

It wasn't that she didn't understand the text and language. She had, in fact been assigned a tutor in Japanese back in Europe and could speak and write like a she had lived in Japan all her life. Blinking back tears, the authoress struggled to understand why she felt this way. Perhaps it was the fact that she was actually back in the very country she was ripped away from, finally settling in her mind. But, she also knew in the deep recesses of her mind, it was something else as well. Something that had she refused to think about all these years and she still couldn't.

Swiping back the tears with her hand, the brunette stood up determinedly. She was finally _back_ home and she was not going to spend the first few moments _crying_ to herself. Nope, she was _Mikan Yukihara_ for god's sake, an author with two hit novels tucked neatly under her arms. And she here to reclaim her roots, but to start doing that, she had to find herself a place to stay. Grabbing her suitcase and her tote she strode toward the currency exchange station.

* * *

Lying on the cream yellow sheets of her futon, Mikan began to wonder what the hell she was doing once again. The confidence and determination she had gathered up at the airport had begun to wear down into nothing three hours later. And she was once again lost in what to do.

Rolling over on her stomach, the brunette reached over for her laptop, a necessity for all authors. Switching it on the brunette contemplated on her next move. She now had yen, a place to stay (a traditional inn, a taxi driver recommended) and that about sums it up all her accomplishments so far. The next step, she supposed, was to relocate her past acquaintances. Sounds easy enough, except, the last time she was in Japan was when she was twelve and she had no firm memory of addresses, numbers or names.

Blowing her bangs upwards in frustration, she turned back to the electronic device, which had now finished booting up. Posing her hands over the keys she licked her lips. Hesitantly she typed into the search box what she couldn't bring about herself to do all these years.

Hours later, she lay in bed in an easy slumber, having planned out her next steps for the days coming ahead. Sheets of paper sprawled out around her. Locations, names and numbers cover them and within the pile, a to-do list can be found. Scrawled in neat print, the following was on the list:  
- Find place to stay  
- Visit parents grave  
- Visit Jii-chan  
- Find Elementary School  
- Find Jii-chan's house  
- Find past acquaintances  
- Find _them_

But, perhaps the piece of topmost importance item in this scene was the papers clutched tightly in the brunette's hand as she slept. The papers titled with "Hotaru Imai".

* * *

Thanks for reading, please review :) Don't hold back on criticism, after all, how would I improve if I don't know what I'm doing wrong?

Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice


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